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Sprott Bachelor of Commerce student awarded social innovation fellowship to support impact organizations

Kennedy Lichti, a Bachelor of Commerce student at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, has been awarded a Social Innovation Fellowship through the HSBC Social Innovation Academy – a non-profit organization that operates experiential learning programs for youth who are interested in how social impact intersects with research, finance and design.

Photo of Kennedy Lichti
Sprott Bachelor of Commerce student Kennedy Litchti has been awarded a Social Innovation Fellowship through the HSBC Social Innovation Academy.

“This fellowship aligns really well with where I hope to go in my career,” Kennedy said. “I also love learning, and I’m very excited to get an opportunity, while I’m still in my undergrad, to work with a bunch of people across Canada, learn from them, and do what we can to support organizations.”

Through this fellowship, she will have the opportunity to develop the technical and leadership skills relevant to social innovation. Fellows in this year’s cohort will also work on projects assisting social enterprises, non-profits and impact funds with challenges they are facing.

Kennedy credits her work in Carleton’s multidisciplinary From Buckets to Rain Barrels initiative as the reason behind her getting accepted into this program. She was also recognized recently with a Carleton Provost Scholar Award for her contributions.

“This fellowship will certainly allow Kennedy to take her interests forward and continue on the path she started out on two years ago,” said Troy Anderson, the co-instructor and co-designer of the initiative.

Three Maasai women using the beehive made by Kennedy Lichti and Eric Whyte.
Through the From Buckets to Rain Barrels initiative, Kennedy and her project partner Eric Whyte, from Carleton’s Industrial Design program, designed a beehive that would provide an entrepreneurial source of income for Maasai women in Tanzania through producing and selling honey.

From Buckets to Rain Barrels teams Sprott undergraduate business students, enrolled in Sprott’s Developing Creative Thinking course, with peers from Carleton’s School of Industrial Design to work on solutions to a range of community sustainability issues faced by the Maasai in Tanzania’s Longido district. As part of the initiative, students also travel to Tanzania for two weeks to engage with the Maasai community members on these issues and collaboratively develop and refine solutions.

Kennedy and Eric Whyte (BID/20) came together to design a novel and context-appropriate beehive that would diversify income for the Maasai women by providing entrepreneurial opportunities in honey production. The pair continued working on the project after their time in the course had ended, and a prototype of the hive is currently being tested in Longido with the help of community partners.

A picture of three beehives designed by Kennedy Lichti and Eric Whyte
The beehive designed by Kennedy and Eric is currently being tested with the help of community partners in Longido.

“The course has completely changed what I want to do in the future,” said Kennedy. “I’m definitely more focused on entering the social entrepreneurship and social innovation space now because of my experience.”